2020-07-26: Super Driver Crashes

Super Driver Crashes
Arumi comes down after a scientific breakthrough
IC Date	July 26, 2020
IC Time	5 PM
Players	Arumi, Astra, Bobbi, River
Location	The Nexus
Prp/Tp	N/A
Spheres	Traditions
Theme Song	Lost My Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtZoB5z_1Ic

Arumi hasn't been here since her note Thursday, but her care pulls into the garage. The driving is a bit less controlled than usual, with an abrupt stop. In a red sundress with a white, but stained apron tied over it, she practically stumbles in her sandals. Her hair is matted in front, and tied up high in back with a piece of crudely cut twine.

HEr eyes blood shot, she goes to the machines, and leans on one, deliberately, slowly putting in milled 'coins' to get more coffee.

Having driven Astra to The Nexus to show her around, Bobbi works on tacking up a neatly printed note on a board for all to see. Today she's wearing a cream colored floral print sundress, a pair of doc marten boots, and some white socks scrunched down. As per almost always, there's a smile on her face, and an almost serene calm about her. Having tacked up the note, she steps back to admire it. "Alright, there we go," she says as she turns around, about to say something more to Astra, when she notices Arumi. "Whoah, you ok?" she wonders as she makes her way towards Arumi.

Astra wanders in from the library upon hearing the commotion from the lounge, "They don't have anything on the Thal'hun that I coul..." She stops and peers at the girl she's not sure if she recognizes or not, "What the hell happened to you!?" She says worriedly as she darts over to her. "Oh my God it's Arumi..." She looks to Bobbi worriedly, "Is she gonna be okay? She looks like she's going to collapse any second!"

Arumi takes a few deep breats as her coffee is dispensed. Lifting her head slowly, she looks to Astra and to Bobbi. "Hi," she rasps, then pausing to cough into her elbow. Grabbing her coffee, she shuffles to a couch to sit on, slowly. "I'm okay, thank you," she says, her voice still rough, and yet low in volume at the same time."

"Whoah, you look exhausted," Bobbi explains the obvious. "I thought I gave you some adderall so you wouldn't be so tired," Bobbi notes to Arumi as she eyes her, trying to take in all the difference, "do you need some more? I don't think coffee is going to do it for you right now, and I can always spare a few." Bobbi glances to Astra and gives a little shrug, before looking back to Arumi.

"She's got that exam cram look." Astra says knowingly, "I think she's been on Adderall for a couple days.. maybe more? Maybe Coffee isn't the best idea right now huh?" She says to Arumi worriedly, "What can we do to make you more comfortable?" Arumi downs the coffee. Tilting her head back, thraot moving as she gulps, and gulps, and gulps. Then letting out a quiet giggle. Weakly. "Bobbi, I've slept one hour since Thursday noon. It's Sundayafternoon now, right?" She slowly reaches into her bag, pulling out her phone. "Yes, Sunday afternoon. I'm tired. I'm hungry. But I have completed my new theories."

Putting the empty cup down, she leans back, throwing her arms out in the air like a jumping jack as she lands on the back of the couch. "I have inhaled Etherspace. You could say I've lived the weekend on dl-amphetamine and Etherspace."

"So you do or don't need adderall?" Bobbi wonders, her brow slightly furrowed as she tries to figure out what Arumi is trying to tell her. Then a light shake of her head as she moves on. "Congratulations?" Bobbi offers hesitantly, "I mean, completed seems good, right?" Then with a laugh she adds, "Theoretically, it's good." Bobbi looks between the two women with a sheepish grin, before turning back to Arumi and asking, "but you ok? I mean, you need me to get you some food? Give you massage? Arrange a spa day for us? I could go for a spa day ... "

Astra puts her hand to her forehead, resting her head in it, "Really Bobbi!? She may ask for more Adderall, but I don't think you should give her any more. She needs sleep! Food is probably a good idea too, then sleep. Definitely no more stimulants." She sighs.

Arumi looks to Bobbi, and goes into her bag, and pulls out an orange bottle. "When I started, this was full, including what you gave me, Bobbi," she says, her voice less raspy after the coffee, and some talking. "I'm going to have the last one right now." And she does, albeit with an apologetic shrug to Astra. "I'm going to order some food at Twisted Toppings, but before I go home, I wanted to eat here. I know there's something in the machines."

A deep breath, still flopped out with her arms splayed out. Her face flushed, sweaty. She doesn't smell BAD mind you, but not fresh. "I'm going to take it easy this week on my research. But soon I should start digging out the shatterdome, and then build the ship. It's time to be a Super Driver."

"This is part of why I say you should excercise," Bobbi notes as she takes a seat close, but not too close to the smelly one. "and yeah, that should probably be the last one of your binge, but if you need some uh ... 'Fortean Tea' or even just a xanax to help you sleep later, let me know. That's what I do whenever I'm crashing off a stimulant run. Despite being exhausted it can be tough to sleep." Bobbi looks to Arumi and wonders, "Well, I'm interested in your new theories, but I understand if you want to save that explanation for when you get your brain back."

Astra winces a little when Arumi takes that last pill, then just sighs and finds a place to sit down with a shrug, "I suppose it'll either kill you or cure you. I never peeked into the medbay, is anyone in there?" She asks worriedly, "Assuming you recover in time I'd love to be there when you start digging out the Shatterdome." She says with a small smile.

Arumi breathes heavily, and smiles. "Thank you both again. I know you both mean well. But I'm fine, really." Well if she hasn't eaten in 3 days, and barely slept, is she really fine? "I have cracked the code, and found how to bind space to the ether, which is the missing piece to creating both durable and infinitesimal wormholes in space. Probably spacetime, too, but I haven't even looked at that." She goes into her bag and holds out a stack of milled slugs. "Any muffins in there? Chips? Cookies?"

"Space to Ether?" Bobbi wonders as she furrows her brow lightly and concludes, "Ether-Space?" Bobbi tilts her head and grins at Arumi as she asks, "You telling me we're finally going to get to the Dark Side of the Moon?" Bobbi glances around and then says, "Let me check, one second." With that she begins rummaging around looking for food.

Astra takes a handful of the slugs and starts plunking them into the nearest machine, "I didn't understand all of that either put parts of it sounded suspiciously like Terraporting from Schlock Mercenary." She remarks as she quirks an eyebrow, "We've got chips, cookies.. how about some of those peanut butter crackers? they're not terrible and you need protein!" Since she's using slugs and presumably they've got a key to the machine anyway she's just hitting any selection that was vaguely like what Arumi wanted and tossing them all toward the table.

Arumi takes any food that Astra chooses to bring to her. Tearing open a wrapper. Ehs takes a cookie... and it is taken from her by a mouse. "Do.... n't do that," she sighs, before qucickly shoving another one into her mouth. Then opening the peanut butter crackers, she swallows. "Yes, Bobbi. I found the last piece of theory I needed to develop interdimensional space travel. Soon. Soon. Thank you Astra."

Walking back from some cupboards, Bobbi hands Arumi a blueberry muffin with one of the mouseguard nibbling the top. "Just eat around him," Bobbi reassures Arumi, "if the MouseGuard has hantavirus, we'd already know. Should be fine." Having handed off the muffin, Bobbi once more takes a seat, slightly away from the smelly one. "That's great," Bobbi notes to Arumi, "it's actually lovely this time of year."

"You guys have a serious mouse problem around here." Astra notes as she watches one snatch a cookie from Arumi, "It's going to be a loooooong time before I can say 'now I've seen everything!' and actually mean it." She sighs as she plunks more slugs into the machine. She dispenses another package of cookies, which she tears open and sets carefully on the floor as she moves to sit back down with her friends. That oughta keep the mice away!

Arumi giggles to Astra. "The mice.. are special. They aren't ordinary mice. They are the caretakers of the Nexus, and of the train system." She nods, and has some of the crackers. "Bobbi, I'm not afraid of them.I just don't want them eating everything I try to eat." Eating rapidly, barely chewing. "And Astra, by the time we induct you into the Society, you'll never again say those four words. Because it's impossible." Yes, even when mentally and physically at a breaking point, she can make the case. Barely.

Bobbi looks like she's about to say something to Arumi, and then thinks better of it, lightly shaking her head. "So now that your done with your theories," Bobbi says to Arumi, "you should concentrate on being more practical. I think excercise is part of that." Bobbi lightly nudges Astra to try to get her to agree.

Astra peers at Bobbi, "Is now really the best time? I agree that exercise is important, I should work on it more myself, but not today. Unless you're worried that last Adderall is going to waste? I'm Sure Doctor Hanada's heart is just fine." She says as she nudges Bobbi back. "I did notice the mice around here seemed unusually intelligent." she says as she looks back to Arumi.

Arumi is eating rapidly. Neatly, but rapidly. She pauses to swallow and look between the two. "Exercise. I just created a micro-wormhole in my lap, in a repeatable way, giving me the keys to the future of humanity." Looking to Astra. "What do you think, Astra? Should I start training to run the marathon, or should we get to ship building?"

"Neither of you excercise, do you?" Bobbi asks as she looks down and shakes her head. A little sigh and she says, "I don't see why we can't do both, but sure, let's do some ship building." River comes in from The Nexus - Library River has arrived.

Astra pretends to think about it for a moment, "As fun as training for a Marathon sounds, I'm gonna have to go with ship building." She says as she gives Bobbi an apologetic squeeze. "But maybe we could all start jogging in the mornings too?" She offers.

Astra's sitting at a table with Bobbi and an exhausted looking, or wired Arumi, take your pick. There's a bunch of random junk food piled up on the table from the vending machines and the mice seem to be enjoying their own package of cookies on the floor.

Arumi is a wreck. Bloodshot eyes, matted hair (tied in back roughly with a piece of twine), sweaty and smelling it (not BAD, but not fresh) and wearing a stained apron over her dress. She's also wolfing down snacks from the machines as she's seated and speaking with Astra and Bobbi.

A deep breath. "Bobbi. What do you do for exercise?"

"Every morning," Bobbi begins to explain, "I wake up just before dawn and do yoga, then I jog for a few miles, before coming back to shower. I do about ten or twelve hours of manual labor during the day. I'll have a few assorted excercices I rotate through after work, and then before going to bed I do some more yoga and meditation. Nothing too extreme, it's just good to stay in shape." River makes her way in humming a bouncy little song as she spins and bops to the music in her head. As she sees people she smiles and waves "Hola chica's!

"Building a space ship counts as manual labor." Astra says with a sagely nod. "The rest sounds doable. I don't meditate as often as I should either." She sighs, then looks up to see River, "Hey, don't mind us we're just winding down, or exercising. or something. It's been a weird day.

Arumi has her mouth full of muffin from Bobbi, as she waves to the arriving River. Still a wreck, breathing deeply after every swallow. "Three miles? On foot? Every day? Wow," she gasps. "I'm sure they'd love that at the base, seeing someone like me try and fail at that."

"Arumi, no!" Bobbi exclaims as she dives forward, just in time to prevent Arumi from eating part of a MouseGuard that had found it's way onto the muffin. Cupping the Mouse in her hands, she makes a protective pout, before releasing it to the ground. "Well, three miles if I'm in a rush," Bobbi notes, "usually more than that, but sometimes I got work piled up. I'm sure they would be very encouraging of you at the base. You also don't have to tell them how long you plan to jog. Just jog for awhile and when you're done, you're done. Though you'll probably be able to do a little more each day." River snorts a laugh and says "I dont run, unless like you know, someone is chasing me. But surfing and swiming is a real workout so there is that.

"Hey c'mon she's eating all carbs, I told her she needs protein!" Astra giggles as she watches Bobbi save the poor MouseGuard's life! "Three miles isn't that bad." She says to Arumi, "I think it's reasonable for someone trying to keep in shape without going too nuts." She says as she elbows Bobbi. "I've never been a water type myself." She says with an apologetic shrug to River,

Arumi is taken aback by Bobbi's sudden action. "Bobbi, I hae enough blood in my adderall to notice a mouse on my muffin. I wasn't going to eat it." Her voice is soft, tired. "But I don't blame you for making sure. Thank you." She then pats the mouse with a fingertip, and offers it a piece of muffin. Which is grudgingly accepted.

"I had protine. I had peanut butter. But are you kidding me? Four miles? Five?"

"Ten most days," Bobbi explains casually, apparently not thinking much of this, perhaps even thinking she's not doing enough. "Water type?" Bobbi says, "I think I just caught my first pokemon joke." River smirks to Bobbi. "Missed it, I went to Fiji and then Bali durign the last two weeks. Surf was good but the party was amazing."

Astra smirks at Bobbi, "I never actually played Pokemon.. I'm sorry? That was a nice try though. Three miles is reasonable, maybe five if we actually like it? Not doing ten."

Arumi pauses and looks over slowly to Bobbi, then making a slow clap. "Better, Bobbi, you just made your first Pokemon joke. Well done." Giggling, she finishes her muffin, and gives another piece to the mouse.

"I could get a cart and join you guys on your exercise. How about that? And Astra, I'll get you acopy of Pokemon if you want. Maybe a simpler one so it's easier to get used to. Yellow maybe."

"Woo, go me!" Bobbi says excitedly as she founds out she just made her first pokemon joke, perhaps her first ever pop culture joke. "You want us to push you on a cart?" Bobbi asks Arumi in incredulous voice as she tilts her head to eye her. "Honestly, though, don't feel like you should pressure yourself to do a lot. I do it because I love it, and now that my leg is better I can, and I want to get into better shape. Maybe do a mile? Half-mile even if that sounds ambitious. Get some one pound weights and do a few reps. Give that four-six weeks as a little break while working on your ship, see where you are after that. I bet you you'll feel better and want to increase the work-out, but if not? You'll have convinced me that you are allergic to excercise and I will stop bothering you."

Astra shakes her head, "Maybe if you stopped trying to dump an entire gym membership on her she might say yes!" She groans, "At the risk of taking Bobbi's side, I believe what she wants to say is that getting in shape physically can help stimulate you mentally as well, without the need for daily Adderall." She pokes Bobbi, "That's what you meant right?"

Arumi takes a deeep breath, and giggles. "I don't take daily adderall. I take it for special occasions and special projects. Before this weekend, I hadn't had any since school. What makes you guys think I could even run?"

"That's what I was saying!" Bobbi protests to Astra. Then with a roll of her eyes, she notes to Arumi, "yeah, and I only take acid when I want to get high." Bobbi gives a light shrug and notes, "not running, jogging. I'm not sure you could run." River says, “yea she will take acid but wont smoke weed with me." She rolls her eyes playfully as she fidns a seat and smiles to those present."”

"Jogging, not running." Astra agrees, "But What makes you think you couldn't run? or Jog, I'm sure you know how, you just get tired really fast. So do I! You just gotta keep doing it a little each day until you don't get tired as fast. It sucks but you'll notice you'll feel better both physically and mentally. Pro Gamers exercise to keep in top shape, and building a Starship is a much more serious undertaking." She nods. "I was really hoping there was going to be more talk about spaceships and wormholes today. What the hell happened!?"

Arumi blinks. "What makes you think I could jog?!" She then finishes a bag of chips, having finished cookies, peanut butter crackers, and a muffin. "And I'm full. We can talk about this another time. Thank you again. I'm gonna go, take my food off of the doorstep, and eat on the way to bed. Goo dnight." River says, “Oh Bobbi I ams working on theat Umbral map for you. It takes forever to get the spells right for the map to work right but its coming along nicely.”

"You be careful on the way home!" Astra says worriedly, "You're not driving right?" She calls after Arumi, "We'll argue about jogging s'more after you've slept!" She flops back in her chair and looks apologetically at River, "So ah.. Hi, sorry about that."